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JAPAN
Nov 12, 1997

Returnee prefers North Korea

OSAKA -- Fusako Aoyama, one of 15 Japanese women visiting from North Korea, told reporters here Wednesday that she is glad to be reunited with relatives and friends in Japan but prefers to live in her adopted home.
JAPAN
Nov 6, 1997

Telephone help line to aid children

In an attempt to reach out to children in need of help and support, eight suprapartisan House of Representatives members formed a federation Thursday to set up a 24-hour telephone help line.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 1997

Marubeni earns ISO approval

Marubeni Corp. said Thursday that it has become the nation's first trading firm to qualify for an ISO certification for international quality management.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 1997

Serving the aged has a silver lining

As Japan's society continues to age at an unprecedented rate, companies from a variety of fields are looking into the area of welfare for new business opportunities.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 1997

Committee passes key fiscal reform bill

A Lower House ad hoc committee passed a top fiscal reform bill Wednesday that would set a target for deficit reduction and place a ceiling on key budget items.
JAPAN
Nov 4, 1997

Financing of Kansai airport runway decided

OSAKA -- Leaders of four Osaka-based business organizations and the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) agreed Tuesday on a plan for how the private sector should finance the construction of a second runway at Kansai International Airport.
JAPAN
Nov 4, 1997

Worsening economy sparks dissent within LDP

A number of lawmakers on the Liberal Democratic Party's Executive Council on Tuesday voiced concern over a bill that would designate specific reduction targets in key budget areas, arguing the bill would make it impossible for the government to stimulate the economy via spending measures.
JAPAN
Oct 31, 1997

Japan, Spain agree on annual summit

Spain and Japan have agreed to hold an annual summit in a bid to strengthen their political dialogue, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar Lopez said Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 1997

Muraoka shoves ministries toward deregulation

Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo Muraoka pressed 12 ministries Thursday to work harder to swiftly compile deregulatory measures to boost the economy.
JAPAN
Oct 27, 1997

JR's first motorwoman at freight train controls

JR's first motorwoman at freight train controls> The Japan Railway group's first female locomotive engineer, Maki Ishimura, 23, climbed into the driver's seat early Oct. 27 aboard a train at Tokyo's Shinagawa Freight Terminal and prepared to depart for the Kawasaki Freight Station in Kanagawa Prefecture....
JAPAN
Oct 21, 1997

LDP drafts measures to revive ailing economy

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party announced a set of measures Oct. 21 that it hopes will revive the flagging economy mainly through deregulation.Bound by a pledge to curtail government spending, the LDP's package relies less on traditional fiscal stimulus such as public works spending and personal...
JAPAN
Oct 21, 1997

Pump-priming package leaves analysts disappointed

The package of pump-priming measures decided Oct. 21 by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party does not seem capable of giving the sluggish economy a quick jolt because it lacks sufficient stimulus targeting personal consumption.Disappointment over the measures forced the benchmark Nikkei average of the...
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1997

LDP, SDP request funds for public work projects

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party urged the government Oct. 15 to put public works projects for upgrading agricultural areas into the supplementary budget.It was basically agreed during a meeting of a group of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto's Conference on Fiscal...
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1997

New Okinawa minister pushed by Hashimoto panel

Any Okinawa-related matters following the downsizing of the Okinawa Development Agency should be handled by a specially appointed minister, members of a blue-ribbon reform panel said Oct. 15.The Administrative Reform Council, headed by Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, agreed with his proposal for a...
JAPAN
Oct 3, 1997

Hashimoto announces plans to stimulate economy

Describing the state of the economy as "extremely bad," Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said Oct. 3 the government will cut corporate tax rates and accelerate the decontrol of land transactions to give it new life.A comprehensive package of such measures will be worked out and announced by the end...
JAPAN
Oct 1, 1997

Business confidence gloomier than expected

The Bank of Japan's quarterly survey of business sentiment indicates confidence in the economy is weaker than expected and hints conditions may get worse.The "tankan," released Oct. 1, says that confidence since the previous survey in June is lower even among major manufacturers, who have led the economy...
JAPAN
Sep 17, 1997

Hashimoto comes out in favor of legislated spending limits

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and his Conference on Fiscal Structural Reform on Sept. 17 endorsed a draft bill that would oblige the government to reduce key expenditures to achieve its self-imposed fiscal reform targets by fiscal 2003.
JAPAN
Sep 12, 1997

Mitsuzuka firm on budget austerity measures

Suggestions by some U.S. officials that Japan should slacken the pace at which it implements budget austerity are understandable but go against the nation's interests, Finance Minister Hiroshi Mitsuzuka said.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 1997

Government leaders adopt draft of reform bill

Top government and ruling party leaders basically agreed Sept. 10 on the draft of a bill that puts into law specific measures to achieve the government's self-imposed fiscal reconsolidation targets.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 1997

Nation can't afford more pump-priming

There is no possibility that an economic pump-priming package will be drawn up in the latter half of this fiscal year due to financial constraints, a top Finance Ministry official said Sept. 1.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 1997

Supreme Court backs Ienaga in textbook suit

The Supreme Court on August 29 ordered the central government to pay 400,000 yen in damages to 83-year-old historian Saburo Ienaga in the last of his three lawsuits against the Education Ministry, although it ruled that the system of screening school textbooks is constitutional.
JAPAN
Aug 28, 1997

'98 budget to need deficit-covering bonds again

For the fifth straight year, the government will probably be forced to issue the deficit-covering bonds that have helped drive the nation into fiscal crisis, a senior Finance Ministry official indicated August 28.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 1997

Panel to prioritize bullet train work

A panel examining the construction of bullet train networks agreed August 26 to decide by late November which of seven sections of four bullet train lines in the Hokkaido, Hokuriku, Kyushu and Tohoku regions will have priority.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 1997

Public corporations under reform microscope

The number of executives and employees at 95 government-affiliated corporations should be cut by 10 percent, and another 10 percent cut should be applied to expenditures on public works projects under their umbrella, according to a proposal made August 26 by a panel of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party....
JAPAN
Aug 14, 1997

Tokyo sharpens ax to cut 310 billion yen deficit

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government, saddled with a deficit of roughly 310 billion yen this fiscal year, released a financial reconstruction plan Aug. 14 that singled out 30 items to be reviewed for possible budget reductions. The plan aims to cut the next fiscal year budget by 126.8 billion yen to 1.5...
JAPAN
Jul 30, 1997

Analysis: Bank's penalty an attempt to assuage public

Finance Ministry's decision July 30 to order Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank to refrain from extending loans to new customers until the end of the calendar year was an attempt to show that it is seriously trying to tackle wrongdoing in the financial markets.
JAPAN
Jul 18, 1997

MITI to hand small firms public works contracts

The government will aim to provide small and medium-size firms with public contracts worth a record 5.159 trillion yen during fiscal 1998, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said July 18.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 1997

Japan Art Association honors five for cultural contributions

The Japan Art Association on July 9 announced five recipients of the Ninth Praemium Imperiale awards.
JAPAN
Jul 8, 1997

Hashimoto presents budget-writing rules

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on July 8 outlined basic rules for fiscal 1998 budget requests that include three special spending brackets to channel 550 billion yen into key areas as well as roughly 240 billion yen in general expenditure cuts.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 1997

Chugoku Focus: Reclamation foes find new target

MATSUE, Shimane Pref. -- As the controversial project to fill in Isahaya Bay in Nagasaki Prefecture takes its toll on the marine environment, local residents here are battling against another unwanted public works project that appears to serve no purpose.

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.